Method and apparatus for forming concrete structures



H. S. CURREN May 30, 1939.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING CONCRETE STRUCTURES Original Filed Oct. 28, 1936 LAW l A A l l SMX/AVAMW BY #99940 S Cue/751v ATTORNEY-5 Patented May 30, 1939 PATENT OFFICE METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING CONCRETE STRUCTURES Harold S. Curren, Pultneyville, N. Y., assignor to The Curren-Fabrihome Corporation, Francistown, N. H., a corporation of Delaware Original application October 28, 1936, Serial No. 107,931. Divided and this application August 3, 1937, Serial No. 157,231

Claims.

This is a division of my application, Serial No. 107,931, filed October 28, 1936, entitled Building construction and relates particularly to a method and apparatus for erecting concrete 5 structures, particularly floor slabs, including the provision of retaining seats for wall and/or partition members of buildings.

The principal object is to provide a novel and effective method and apparatus for molding concrete in the erection of floor slabs, foundations or the like.

Another object is to provide an improved knock-down form for shaping concrete structures such as floor slabs.

A further object is to provide for the accurate formation and placement of straight horizontal channels or recesses, in concrete, for receiving wall members, such as sectional partitions, etc.

A further object is to provide a concrete form 20 apparatus having effective guides for tools or strips respectively to plow out and/or mold retaining grooves or channels for vertical building members.

Still another object is to provide a concrete structure and method of making it, wherein projecting or corner portions of the concrete are permanently reinforced against chipping or other damage.

A further specific object is to provide an ad- 3 justable means for accurately determining the position and shape of corners in concrete, which means will also effectively reinforce such corners when the concrete sets.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description, relating to the accompanying drawing, showing the preferred form. The essential characteristics are summarized in the claims.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a plan View, showing portions of a truss framework (part of form) in place on a foundation suitable for a building; Fig. 2 is a partial sectional view of two'floor portions of a building in the course of construction, in accordance herewith, taken on a plane such as indicated at 2-2 on Fig.1, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a corner portion of such framework and parts of a concrete floor slab and foundation on which the slab rests.

The term concrete as used herein is intended 50 to refer to any plastic substance adapted to harden or be hardened in a form.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a generally rectangular hollow truss frame construction A is shown, resting, in part, on a foundation, such as basement walls W and W en port y of the latter being shown. The frame has lateralmem bers 2 and 3, the ends of which are connected to longitudinal frame members 4, which may extend past the members 2 and 3 any desired distance. The frame A forms part of the falsework for a concrete floor slab, which is to b supported on top of the foundation.

The individual elements of each truss frame member may comprise pressed steel channels 5 and 6, (see Fig. 3) with mutually facing flanges connected by cross plates 1 near the ends, or whatever transverse horizontal strains are to be applied. Lattice work formed by a'zig-zag bar having its apices welded to the webs of the channels may complete the construction to form an open but very rigid and light truss beamstructure. The ends of the channels 5 and 6 of the frame members 2 and 3 may, for example, be detachably secured to the webs of the channels 6 of the frame members 4, as by angle plates and bolts l0.

Assuming appropriate false-work such assuggested partly by broken lines at F, Fig. 3, has been erected inside the frame construction A, such false-work forms therewith a rectangular box for receiving concrete to make'the floor slab; the side walls of the form being the webs of the inner channels 6. It is to be assumed that suitable internal reinforcement for the concrete will be used, following any known or appropriate practice.

Referring now to the manner of forming seat channels for wall or partition members, such for example as shown in the parent case, four rods or wiresl2 (say No. 4 steel Wire) are stretched across the false-work between opposite mem-' bers of the frame A. These will be referred to as bead wires, since they run all along the corners of respective seat channels for the wall members. The ends of the bead wires may extend through difinitely located openings in the webs of the inner channels 6 and one end of each is shownas looped at I 3 to engage the hooked end of a draw bolt I4. The bolts are supported in the webs of respective outer channels 5. The other end of each wire may be secured in any suitable way, as by being headed over in a manner to abut the outer face of the channel web through which it passes, or by additional draw bolts. Bymeans of the draw bolts and nuts thereon, the bead wires may be drawn tightly, say to a tension of 500 to 700 pounds. Since the bead wires determine the 'positionof the wallor partition seats, it is important that the wires be straight and horizontal at all por-- tions. In other words all portions of each of the wires must be accurately located and held definitely in position in two planes: vertical and horizontal. The wall or partition sections cannot be erected properly in the seats unless the above conditions are met. Stretching of the bead wires accomplishes location in vertical planes and to secure horizontal straightness for an up:

wardly facing seat I provide adjustable supporting legs I5 at intervals along the wires for contact with the form. These may be welded at intervals along each wire l2. The leg members have curled free ends l6 forming feet which rest lightly on the floor paneling F of the false-work F. When the bead wires are tensioned, the feet l6 may be bent by tapping the same with a hammer, as on the tops of the legs or, on the curled ends; bending them up or down, whichever is required to make them just touch the false-work when the wires l2 are horizontal and straight at all portions. The bead wires for a downward ly facing channel (ceiling groove) are main tained horizontal at all portions by contact with the concrete form, and the legs project upward ly into the space which receives the concrete.

Where bead wires intersect or cross at right angles (or any angle) those in one direction may be crimped to pass over or under the other and at these points an arc weld or wire tieing' and bending operation will hold these bead wires from being dislocated laterally, due to concrete placement, spading tools, etc. If partition location bead wires do not occur frequently enough to prevent slight lateral dislocations, additional parallel lighter wires may be run to stiffen the whole wire pattern of the partition channel bead wires.

Assuming conventional reinforcement has been laid, the concrete is now' poured into the form to make the floor slab, portions of which are shown at 20 and 20a, Figs. 2 and 3. The slab is completed by leveling the same within the boundaries determined by the four wires .12; and the channels formed by raking'out the concrete outwardly from all four'wires while the concrete" is still soft. It will be seen 'thatthe wires 12 form screeds or guides for the leveling opera tion on the concretej form guarding beads at the inner edges of the channels 22, and also serve as guides to assist in properly forming the channels. The leg members l5 hold the bead wires in position as the concrete sets, and thereafter. Any sort of tool may be used to plow out the channels or these may be molded to shape by strips of appropriate cross section set against the wires in proper position after pouring and tamping. sweep with a tool that rests on and laterally abuts a bead wire at one end, and rests on the flange of the adjacent channel 6 as a guide at the other. Each channel 22'is right-triangular in shape as shown, but may be of any shape, 'width and depth, depending upon the type and character of the wall or' partition members to be erected therein. The particular shape shown is to enable eifective seating and retaining of bevel ended units into the upper and lower'channels and fastening of the same in place as by wedges driven in at the top or bottom as cle sired. I

The channels 22 that will be formed non-adjacent the frame members 2, 3 or 4 would ordinarily receive inside partition memberswhile the remainder of the channels 22 receive outside wallmembers. Only outside channels for wall Plowing out may be done at one members are shown. The system is highly adaptable in making partitions that do not run from main wall to main wall. In that event only so much of the soft concrete is removed as necessary to erect the desired length of partition. It may be mentioned at this point that the reason the outside channels are setiback from the foundation is to form space for veneer, as of brick, stone or the like, which veneer should, of course, rest on the foundation. If no facing or, veneer is to be used, then the outer channels 22 are not set back, at least not so far.

Referring to Fig. 2 (left upper portion) it will be seen that an inverted, i. e. downwardly facing, channel 32 is formed on the underside of the slab 30, comprising the next floor of the building. This slab is, of course, supported on suitable columns (not shown) disposed over the foundation or on pilaster bases (not shown) inwardly therefrom or at any other places as best ms the design of the building To form such inverted channels 32, the shape of which may be similar to that of the channels 22, the upper false-work panels F may carry sheet metal molds of the desired shape of channel to be formed, such as indicated at 33, about which the concrete for the slab 30 is cast; The bead wires, in case of inverted channels, are stretched along the top side of the false-work panelling, and the leg members stand above the bead wires and are later embedded in the con crete to retain the bead wires in position. The bead wires serve accurately to locate the molds 33. The frame A for supporting the concrete at the edge of the upper floor slab may be carried on suitable temporary framing or on brackets attached to the false-work for the columns or the upper slab, or in any other convenient manner. A channel 22, for receiving wall members of an upper story, is shown as set out with reference to the aligned channels 22' and 32 as would be done in case the outer walls of the upper story are not to have a veneer facing.

Assuming the upper slab 30 has been poured and that the concrete has set, the wall and partition structure of the lower story'may now be erected as by placement of wall and partition units such as shown in the parent case. The position of one such unit, when erected, is indicated by broken lines at 50, Fig. 2. The re mainder of the building floors, side Walls and partitions may be constructed by repeating the procedure already described, and any appropriate roof structure used at the top.

The term wire as used'in the claims means a flexible member of any shape or size adapted to be drawn tightly or bent as the case may require.

I claim:

1. In concrete building construction, a concrete slab having a groove or channel in one face, a wire at least partially embedded in a corner portion of such groove or channel, and anchors for the wire spaced along the wire and connected therewith and embedded in the concrete which forms the slab.

2. In concrete construction, a wire, means for stretching the wire across and in spaced relation to false work on which concrete may be poured, and substantially at the desired exposed face of the concrete, and deformable members attached to the wire, depending therefrom and having upwardly curled bottom end portions for contact with the false-work and adapted to be bent by being tapped with a hammer to determine the position of the wire intermediately of its main points of suspension.

3. A guide for determining and reinforcing a corner portion of a concrete slab, comprising a section of readily flexible wire of such size and weight that a comparatively long length of it can be pulled into a horizontal line with no appreciable sag, means on the ends of the wire for engagement with tensioning devices to enable the wire to be stretched in position across a concrete form, and a plurality of bendable members secured to the wire at spaced points, depending therefrom and adapted to serve as sag-reducing supports prior to setting of the concrete and afterward as anchors for adjacent portions of the wire.

4. A guide for determining and reinforcing an exposed surface portion of a concrete slab, comprising a section of wire adapted to be stretched in position across a concrete form, anda plurality of elongated bendable members secured to the wire, depending therefrom and having upwardly curled deformable lower end portions for substantially single point contact with the form, whereby height adjustment can be effected by tapping the extremities of said lower end portions or tapping the upper portions of the members to further curl their lower end portions.

5. A member for determining and reinforcing a surface portion of a concrete slab, comprising a. section of wire of sufiicient length so that its ends can extend beyond the side boundary of the slab to be formed, means on the ends of the wire adapted for engagement respectively with a pulling device and a holding means to resist the pull for enabling the wire to be maintained in stretched condition until the concrete sets, and anchor members extending from thewire and having laterally diverted portions in substantially spaced relation to the wire for interlooking with the concrete when set.

' HAROLD S. CURREN. 

